Which domain register / hosting company

[Dodsy]

Having not had to register my own domain before Im looking for a recommendation - there seem to be a lot of companies out there who can offer the service I need which is:

Register a new domain name
Provide 2 email addresses
Host a tiny website for me, just a page or two.

Cheers

Dodsy

[omniflow]

Personally, I would keep things separate.

DomainMonster are fine for the domain name - reasonably priced and their website for managing domains is pretty easy to use.

I would then use Gmail to provide the email - it's free. It takes about 10 minutes to link your newly purchased domain with Gmail.

For the web hosting, I don't really have any recommendations.

If you lump all of that with a single provider, and then you're not happy or you outgrow their offerings, then you might end up losing the domain name / email.

[Joratk]

I use TSO Host to register domains and host them, and zoho for my email needs.

[GetCarter]

easily.co.uk

Been using them for years. Reliable, cheap, and excellent telephone helpline.

[TurricanII]

TSOHOST x 1000!

[stewies_minion]

I use Daily & Office 365 for my emails.

Not sure how good the free gmail offering is but 0365 is something like £4 per mailbox per month & its full Exchange.

[Mr Kitten]

TurricanII said:

TSOHOST x 1000!

Another vote - they're really good and you can talk to them should you need to.

[Dodsy]

Thanks for the info everyone - I've registered the domain with TSO, probably go with Office 365 for the email as that gives me exchange services .

[stewies_minion]

Good choice on 0365. I've been using it for my personal email for years without fault.

[Dodsy]

stewies_minion said:

Good choice on 0365. I've been using it for my personal email for years without fault.

I guess Im going to have to research this a bit more, I just want to use myname@domainname as my email address but as Im trying to sign up for office 365 exchange its giving me some microsoft email address.

I assume that once I've registered I can then change that but it doesnt say that in the blurb so Im holding off for now, maybe go with someone else that can use my domain name for my email address. I wish they could make this easy but I guess its aimed at large businesses with IT departments and Im just a one man band.

[P4ulB]

Dodsy said:

I guess Im going to have to research this a bit more, I just want to use myname@domainname as my email address but as Im trying to sign up for office 365 exchange its giving me some microsoft email address.

I assume that once I've registered I can then change that but it doesnt say that in the blurb so Im holding off for now, maybe go with someone else that can use my domain name for my email address. I wish they could make this easy but I guess its aimed at large businesses with IT departments and Im just a one man band.

You can get your domain name - requires a bit of config, but it's absolutely fine to do with Office 365 (I use it myself along with Tsohost for hosting and domain name registration - thoroughly recommended btw).

By default you,usually end up with some sort of <xxxx>@<xxxx>.onmicrosoft.com address, but you can change this.

[Dodsy]

Ok Ive had an online chat, I can do it but its so bloody complicated ! Im working through it now hopefully I can get it sorted today.

ETA: Ok seems im trying to rush things and just need to wait, have to add a DNS record to verify with microsoft that i own the domain and TSO have told me that takes up to 24 hours to do so no email for a few days. I guess im used to instant results, its been a while since I've had anything to do with DNS and I'd forgotten that it cant be rushed !

Edited by Dodsy on Tuesday 15th November 13:34

[GetCarter]

"I can do it but its so bloody complicated ! Im working through it now hopefully I can get it sorted today"

I set up a domain name and two e mail addresses for a friend on easily.co.uk on Friday. Took me about 3 minutes.

Website was up and running (and populated / available on Google) an hour later.

[Dodsy]

GetCarter said:

"I can do it but its so bloody complicated ! Im working through it now hopefully I can get it sorted today"

I set up a domain name and two e mail addresses for a friend on easily.co.uk on Friday. Took me about 3 minutes.

Website was up and running (and populated / available on Google) an hour later.

I'm seriously regretting going to Microsoft O365 online now - I have worked in IT for years although no longer in support so thought I'd be able to sort this quickly but its a very manual process unfortunately. Although I do want the full exchange service, I guess im paying the price for that now.

Edited by Dodsy on Tuesday 15th November 13:52

[TurricanII]

Same with anything these days, you need a bit of experience for it to go smoothly otherwise you'll end up needing some help!

I guess you bought O365 and set up [e-mail]

Then add your domain to the O365 but it will not find the TXT record you added.

One gotcha - check what the name servers (NS records) are for your domain. sometimes with TSOHost it defaults to ns1.tsodns.com and ns2.tsodns.com

These servers are for when you but a web hosting package at TSO Host. I presume you don't need one. If you just need domain DNS then you get that with the domain at TSOHost but you may need to unlock your domain on TSOHost and change the Name Servers to ns1.tsohost.co.uk and ns2.tsohost.co.uk.

This allows you to use the DNS records under Domains > DNS under the main TSOHost login.

PM or post your domain if you need a hand.

[Dodsy]

TurricanII said:

Same with anything these days, you need a bit of experience for it to go smoothly otherwise you'll end up needing some help!

I guess you bought O365 and set up [e-mail]

Then add your domain to the O365 but it will not find the TXT record you added.

One gotcha - check what the name servers (NS records) are for your domain. sometimes with TSOHost it defaults to ns1.tsodns.com and ns2.tsodns.com

These servers are for when you but a web hosting package at TSO Host. I presume you don't need one. If you just need domain DNS then you get that with the domain at TSOHost but you may need to unlock your domain on TSOHost and change the Name Servers to ns1.tsohost.co.uk and ns2.tsohost.co.uk.

This allows you to use the DNS records under Domains > DNS under the main TSOHost login.

PM or post your domain if you need a hand.

Thanks for replying - its exactly as you said but the reverse - nameservers were set to .co.uk addresses, once I changed them to tsodns.com it worked straight away :-)

[loafer123]

I have been having real problems with emails with TSO Host, with recipient blockers bouncing emails from their IP Address because they host spammers.

They appear to have moved their helpdesk to somewhere in eastern Europe which means I have got inconsistent and contradictory help to resolve the issue.

Now, this morning, their entire outgoing server is down.

So, my question is, who is good as a potential replacement?

[Oakey]

So they've gone all Register1?

[maccas99]

loafer123 said:

I have been having real problems with emails with TSO Host, with recipient blockers bouncing emails from their IP Address because they host spammers.

They appear to have moved their helpdesk to somewhere in eastern Europe which means I have got inconsistent and contradictory help to resolve the issue.

Now, this morning, their entire outgoing server is down.

So, my question is, who is good as a potential replacement?

I've been with UK2.net for over 2.5 years now and never had any problems.

[jammy-git]

loafer123 said:

I have been having real problems with emails with TSO Host, with recipient blockers bouncing emails from their IP Address because they host spammers.

They appear to have moved their helpdesk to somewhere in eastern Europe which means I have got inconsistent and contradictory help to resolve the issue.

Now, this morning, their entire outgoing server is down.

So, my question is, who is good as a potential replacement?

TSO's parent group (Paragon Internet) were bought by Host Europe Group over a year ago. I've been mainly happy with Tso/Vidahost since then, but I have noticed a few wobbles with support in that time (still miles better than most companies). Not had any problems with infrastructure though.